Baby Talk

As something of a linguist, I'm keen to record Asher's vocal communication at different stages. I'm a bit behind - I know there was a time when he didn't make any vocal sounds apart from crying (and the astonishingly loud sleep grunting that kept me awake even during his few hours of slumber in the early days!), but now Ash creates lots of different noises:

- Crying comes in three categories: normal (indicates physical need), frantic (intensified physical need) and shouting (I have no idea why he's crying and, I suspect, neither does he). Some parents can distinguish different cries for tired, scared, hungry, etc. but I haven't been very successful with that yet!

- A high pitched "oooh!" was the first non-crying sound we heard - the classic baby coo, I suppose - the sound swoops up in the middle. It's the audio equivalent of a smile, and Ash makes it a lot.

- A cute little "Mmm" or "hmmm" or "ng" which he makes when he is feeding contentedly. Like a happy sigh. He sometimes does this rhythmically as he sleeps, like a less annoying version of snoring.

- A sort of disgruntled grunt (if such a thing can exist). Might occur when his brain thinks he's still hungry but his stomach disagrees.

- Quick breathing to indicate excitement, for example when he knows he's about to have a bath. Or milk. This is usually what I hear when he wakes up in the night. Sometimes I manage to hook him up to the milk supply before he cries, but not always.

- A short "uh" which I think he makes when he can't decide whether to be happy or sad.

- A longer "aah", which he makes more and more often these days - this is like his normal conversation voice. He seems to be expanding to include a wider range of vowel sounds. He can chat like this for quite a while, with or without the involvement of another party!

I do try to take turns with him in conversation. But Ash hasn't quite worked this out: sometimes when I speak to him he doesn't respond; other times he interrupts when I'm talking. I guess he'll grow out of that habit eventually - maybe by the time he's in his twenties?